Chapter 489: Playing by the rules
For Yang Mo, Kevin Durant is obviously no longer an opponent of the same level. Although Durant has certain advantages over Yang Mo in shooting, Yang Mo has surpassed him in other aspects. Of course, height is insurmountable.
Although Kevin Durant still has a lot of room for growth, Yang Mo is not worried about this guy's counterattack at all, because he believes that as time goes by, he will get further and further ahead of Kevin Durant.
After Kevin Durant's comments were mercilessly criticized by Yang Mo, fans participating in the discussion began to list opponents for Yang Mo, those who could prevent him from reaching the top. They discussed it over and over again. In the end, they had to admit that Yang Mo was indeed the strongest and one of the top stars. The only one who could completely suppress Yang Mo in terms of strength was probably LeBron James.
In a sense, Yang Mo is now widely considered the second-best player in the league, trailing only LeBron James. Looking back two years ago, when Yang Mo first entered the league, countless pundits dismissed him as unworthy of his lottery pick. Now, they have to acknowledge Yang Mo as the greatest star of the 2008 generation. If time could turn back, the Bulls general manager, who was struggling with Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose, would have a much easier time, simply choosing Super Yang.
Yang Mo did not object to the position ranked by the fans, but he also did not agree with it. He believed that he had an advantage against LeBron James. Although the two might be evenly matched in terms of data, the Knicks would definitely have the upper hand in terms of record.
Yang Mo neither admitted nor denied it, but his teacher, Mr. John Stockton, excitedly attended a press conference held by the New York Knicks in New York. When Yang Mo's recent incident of dominating the league was mentioned, he responded calmly, "What's the problem with that? Super Yang is definitely going to dominate the NBA. If he can't dominate the NBA, why should I come to teach him?"
"But, right now, there's LeBron James ahead of him. LeBron James has already reached his peak. He's the one most likely to dominate the league, isn't he?"
When the reporter asked Stockton this question, Stockton smiled contemptuously and continued, "LeBron James? Him? He can't do it. He's about 50,000 times worse than Super Yang. I mean the desire to dominate the game. He will never be as murderous as Super Yang, so he will soon lose to Super Yang, even though he still has a slight technical advantage now."
"What did you teach him about passing? It's unbelievable how he suddenly learned to pass the ball overnight."
When the reporter raised this question, John Stockton responded: "You may have overlooked one thing. Before that kid completely understood how to pass the ball, he had already been training diligently under me for six months. He is the most hardworking player I have ever seen, and there is probably no player who can endure boredom better than him. As for your claim that he learned to pass overnight, I would like to say that this is not uncommon. Passing requires comprehension. After six months of hard training, he suddenly realized it, and then integrated all his previous hard work to become a super assist player. This is very normal. So, you can't just focus on overnight changes , you should also pay attention to his previous training. And if you only report on the first half, young people will ignore the importance of training and always want to become stronger overnight."
John Stockton silently supported Yang Mo in New York, and very quickly, the second playoff game arrived.
Before this game, the Orlando media defined this game as a must-win victory.
Yes, they couldn't afford to lose. They didn't want to lose at home again, and they didn't want to be humiliated by Yang Mo a second time. So, they united their voices and put pressure on the team.
Despite the pressure from the entire city, the Orlando Magic, after two days of adjustment, appeared full of ambition. Nelson, the Magic's "Prince of Talk," couldn't help but boast in front of the media: "We've found the key to victory. From now on, we won't fail again."
Prince Mouth Cannon 's words had almost no killing power on Yang Mo. Before the first game, this guy had said that he would sweep the whole game. Now that he lost a game, he successfully turned the sweep into not losing again.
This sentence is so logical and versatile that he could use it even after losing the second game, the third game, and even after being swept. Because after being swept, he went fishing and definitely didn't have to lose again.
Compared with the noise before the game in Orlando, the Knicks were completely calm. No one spoke and no one paid any attention to them.
Soon, the competition arrived.
But before the game began, the Knicks received some devastating news: their only available center, Milicic, had fallen in the visiting team's bathroom and was seriously injured, most likely breaking his thigh bone.
When Milicic was rushed to the hospital, Yang Mo's face froze. He was extremely depressed. He didn't know what had happened to this guy. He had actually rushed to shower before the game. It would have been fine if he had just showered, but he had actually dropped the soap while washing. It fell, but he had gone to pick it up. Instead of picking it up, he stepped on the soap and fell flat on his face.
The inside was already a sieve, and now that Milicic fell, it became a complete decoration.
After seeing off Milicic, Yang Mo returned to the locker room and immediately encouraged his players. He then made a decisive lineup change, personally moving him to center to handle Howard's aggressive offense. Furthermore, on offense, he would assume the role of point guard.
In other words, Yang Mo was single-handedly shouldering the two most tiring positions on the team. Regarding this, Stein asked Yang Mo with some concern, "Isn't this too tiring? Should we find another player to share the burden?"
Yang Mo shook his head. He had to be both the father and the mother in this game.
When the game started and the whistle blew, Yang Mo walked to the center circle to prepare for the jump ball with Dwight Howard, the whole audience was stunned, including Stan Van Gundy. No one in the audience knew what Yang Mo was up to, but they all thought it was definitely a conspiracy.
There's no way around it. In Orlando, Yang Mo seems to have become synonymous with conspiracy. Some reporters, deliberately exaggerating, portrayed Yang Mo's impressive return in the previous game as a carefully orchestrated trap, designed to catch the Magic off guard. With this conspiracy theory perpetuated, it was hard not to misinterpret the Knicks' unusual move.
"Yang, what exactly do you want to do?" Howard, who was standing opposite him, couldn't help but ask.
"Jump ball." Yang Mo smiled slightly and replied calmly, "You better be careful later. If I beat you by a jump, you won't be able to save your face at all."
"You'll never win."
"That's not necessarily true."
The two men were arguing with each other when the referee blew the whistle. Then they both got into position at the same time. Yang Mo's eyes were fixed on the referee's arm. When the referee threw the arm upward, Yang Mo quickly jumped first and stretched out his left hand.
After Yang Mo jumped, Howard immediately followed. When the two were completely airborne, the fans were shocked to find that although Yang Mo was not as tall as Howard, his arm span was longer than Howard's. Moreover, with the advantage of jumping first, his finger height was also higher than Howard's.
What surprised everyone even more was that the basketball actually landed to the left after reaching the highest point, and the left side happened to be Yang Mo's left hand.
Could it be that... this guy predicted where the ball would land?
Just as this doubt arose, Yang Mo's left hand quickly passed the ball behind him, and Tony Allen quickly stepped forward and grabbed the rebound first.
Super Yang actually won? He actually beat the top center in a jump ball? Everyone was surprised. Yang Mo had caught them off guard from the very beginning of the game.
"This guy has gotten even stronger. His explosiveness is even better than Howard's, his jumping ability is so amazing, and his judgment of where the basketball will land is as sharp as ever!"
Sitting courtside in the first row, wearing sunglasses, Dwyane Wade couldn't help but mutter. Since the Miami Heat didn't make the playoffs this year, and Orlando wasn't far from Miami, he'd stopped by to watch the game. He also wanted to see how much Yang Mo had improved since they'd last met. Furthermore, he desperately wanted to clear up the misunderstanding. Ever since the All-Star Game, he'd begun to feel more responsible for their parting ways, not Yang Mo's.
Dwyane Wade was muttering silently about Yang Mo's progress, when suddenly he was even more surprised because he found that as soon as the basketball crossed half court, Tony Allen handed it to Yang Mo and asked Yang Mo to handle it.
Wasn't he a center? How did he become a point guard? And... who is the center for the Knicks now? Jeffries? Or... Anthony Randolph? Or Tracy McGrady? They don't look like any of them. This lineup is clearly a run-and-gun formation. But... they're not running, they're just settling in. This... this, this is too weird! Is Young up to something?
Dwyane Wade's question echoed almost every spectator's. No one knew what Yang Mo was up to. The Magic players were even more perplexed. They had no idea what the Knicks were planning. They could only follow the Knicks players around. They didn't want to be caught off guard right from the start.
The Magic team members were in a state of high tension, and they were obviously shocked by Yang Mo's unconventional approach.
At this time, Yang Mo, who was standing outside the three-point line, finally moved.
